The farmer and his plow - When I set out to build a record cutter

[symatic]

Very inspiring. amazing work!

[zdenek]

Hello ,
A few months ago, I asked an engineer with whom I work why it is so difficult to make a good and efficient head for vinyl records, so that it can record as well as the factory-made vinyl records.
My engineer friend showed me his new Swiss watch, a very expensive ROLEX [price about $10k in the US] and told me that it would be easier to make it than a good head for gramophone records. Then he showed me a milling spindle that rotated at a speed of 10,000 rpm and he said that heads made of loudspeakers have this speed and you can't achieve more this way and you need a speed of 100,000 revolutions per minute and such a spindle exists but it costs a fortune, then he showed me a CNC machine for $200,000 and told me such a machine is easier to make than a professional machine for recording gramophone records because the latter has to be much more accurate and smaller and therefore more difficult to make. So I forgot about my wife's ideas about super heads made of vibrators for $10 each, I believed the guy because he knows what he's doing and knows what he's talking about .So understand me well, my friend, robots like mine or ours in general are amateur inventions and you should forget about sub-crystalline recordings made in plastic or polycarbonate...
I'm just playing now with a machine that other people made and unfortunately these are very amateur recordings and not worth posting, because the first ear will recognize my amateurism and always chooses the one without noise, i.e. MP3, because it thinks the sound is better, so I gave up on it. and I make toys, that's all. Regards

[farmersplow]

Hello ,
A few months ago, I asked an engineer ...

I take note of your opinion and that of your friend.

[farmersplow]

Drive unit FP-9
09/2023

I decoupled the stepper motor using rubber bearings to minimize the transmission of vibrations. The toothed belt and the bearings also support this aim.
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Good adjustment of the position of the motor and tensioning of the drive belt in the installed state is ensured.
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And the ventilation (waste heat) of the motor and the stepper driver is also taken care of.
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Greetings from Austria
Thomas

[farmersplow]

Drive unit FP-9
09/2023

After installing the rails (and parts of the structure), I was curious to see how the new bushings (plain bearings made of iglidur® material) have changed in terms of noise compared to the recirculating ball bearings.
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I found an old video where I recorded the movement noise of the carriage.
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Even if the carriage doesn't move nearly as fast in practice, this is the best way to show the change.
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VID 53a_1.mp4

VIDEO "old drive unit"
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The new bushings in the comparison video are not only quieter, they also develop less resonance. To improve the whole thing even further, I plan to add damping mats to the slide and the base plate.
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VID 53b_1.mp4

VIDEO "new drive unit"
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And when I compare the two videos, I think to myself: "A hell of a lot of development has already happened"


Greetings from Austria
Thomas

[zdenek]

Hello, this should be done from the beginning of your project, it is known that sliding guides are the quietest possible, and if you add central lubrication [like in professional precision lathes], it will be poetry and even a fairy tale...
However, you will have noise and hum caused by the harmonic gear and the steps of the stepper motor will be noticeable. I eliminated this problem by using a DC servo motor with a DC encoder, such as in German lathes. I gave up on the turntable motor because its axis is too thin and when I put a load of 25 grams on it, it bent by a dozen or so microns and it caused additional noise and unevenness of the cut and the engine jumping out of synchronization, and I don't know if I told you, I cut with a diamond in brass and copper sheets, we used a motor without magnetic attachment, i.e. the rotor is coreless, this motor is very expensive [1000 pounds without modification and the modification cost more than 1,500 English pounds and the motor controller for 200 pounds] the engine is coupled with a 2048-point digital encoder,,,but..., the game was worth the candle, and the main tray was made as a vacuum one [expensive work [500 euros] for a tray plus an adjustable subplate 250 euros.
If you have a parcel box, I can send you my head to test, it's really strong and fast, no problem, completely free of charge.
I just don't know if you have the right riaa correction preamplifier with feedback and protection against overload excitation at the output of the power amplifier.

[farmersplow]

Hello, this should be done from the beginning of your project..

I wasn't clever enough to do everything right from the start

… that sliding guides are the quietest possible, and if you add central lubrication [like in professional precision lathes], it will be poetry and even a fairy tale...

Manufacturer information: The practical thing about iglidur® bearings is that they actually manage without lubrication. The solid lubricant particles processed directly in the material ensure low friction and the "dry running" means that dirt and dust bind less in the bearing point anyway. Corrosion is not an issue - at least for the bearing itself.
Lubricants also bind dust and dirt, which then accumulates over time. It has to be weighed up. I'm not going to use a lubricant.

… I eliminated this problem by using a DC servo motor with a DC encoder, such as in German lathes.

It would be interesting to hear or see something about it.

I cut with a diamond in brass and copper sheets…

It would be interesting to hear or see something about it.

we used a motor without magnetic attachment, i.e. the rotor is coreless, this motor is very expensive [1000 pounds without modification and the modification cost more than 1,500 English pounds and the motor controller for 200 pounds] the engine is coupled with a 2048-point digital encoder,,,but..., the game was worth the candle, and the main tray was made as a vacuum one [expensive work [500 euros] for a tray plus an adjustable subplate 250 euros.

It would be interesting to hear or see something about it.

If you have a parcel box, I can send you my head to test…

It would be interesting to hear or see something about it. Send a picture.

Please forgive my polemics, but you wanted a cutting head from me not long ago because your machine was almost finished, then you write that you have given up because it is not possible in terms of time, money and technology to build a good lathe with a good cutting head. Then you write that you cut in brass and copper. And you write that your recordings are too bad to publish but that you have built a drive motor for 3,500 ponds that is much better. My development will never reach the quality of a Neumann lathe, and that is not my goal. I want to build as good a lathe as possible that can cut good cuts in PETG that I am happy with. And I realise that there is always room for improvement. I'm working on improving it and one day my project will be finished. If you have any good suggestions on how I can improve it, I will be happy to accept them.

What I post here is intended to inspire others and may also help them with their developments. That's what I'm doing here.

Thomas

[kugelblitz]

What I post here is intended to inspire others and may also help them with their developments. That's what I'm doing here.

Thomas

And you are very successful at that, so don't worry too much about the peanut gallery and keep up the good work!

[zdenek]

Farmer, I'm telling you how to make it quiet and to make it so you have to do as I tell you and for that you have to pay a lot of money, which doesn't change the fact that at the moment I don't have a super strong head that would be able to cut silently with a diamond groove in copper 17kHz and I suspect that you will soon find out why and you will not reveal it to anyone for free, good luck farmer!

[PLD]

Farmer, I'm telling you how to make it quiet and to make it so you have to do as I tell you and for that you have to pay a lot of money, which doesn't change the fact that at the moment I don't have a super strong head that would be able to cut silently with a diamond groove in copper 17kHz and I suspect that you will soon find out why and you will not reveal it to anyone for free, good luck farmer!

Oh for heaven's sake, just go away.

[jjwharris]

Great work farmersplow, if it's any consolation I've been use PLA printed bearings for my carriages and they're silent enough for me - Igus bearings would be a great step up for me.

Thanks for sharing your developments.

[farmersplow]

..., so don't worry too much about the peanut gallery ...

hahaha the peanut gallery lllol

peanut gallery.png

no more thoughts - thank you

[farmersplow]

Oh for heaven's sake, just go away.

I didn't want to say it so directly

[farmersplow]

Great work farmersplow, if it's any consolation I've been use PLA printed bearings for my carriages and they're silent enough for me - Igus bearings would be a great step up for me.

Thanks for sharing your developments.

Thank you and I'm glad you like it. And thank you for your openness. Some would say they did everything right from the start. For me (as you can read) it's been a long journey with lots of mistakes and learning processes. I think we all have to go through it, more or less.

[farmersplow]

Heating FP-9
09/2023

As I haven't finished all the parts for the cutting head yet, I'm continuing with the assembly of the lathe. To do this, I have (once again) planned an improvement to the plate heater. It's the 100th version (I feel), but this time I have a good feeling.

First I assemble the measuring arm. This is now a bit more professional and consists of an upper and a lower housing part. The electronics are mounted in between.

The upper part is fitted with a sight glass:
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The OLED display is then mounted under the sight glass. It shows the set and actual temperature of the record.

The infrared sensor is mounted on the lower part of the housing:
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Insulating paper must always be inserted between the electronics and the aluminium parts.

The screwed-on IR sensor is then clearly visible from the underside.
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Before the two parts are joined together, insulating paper must of course also be inserted into the upper part.
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Then I screwed the two parts together as a test to see if everything fits as planned.
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It fits. Lucky!
Someone might say: "I should have done it right at the beginning" , but everything is a learning process.

There is a threaded hole on the underside. This is where the cable lines come through and the arm is mounted on a column - so that it can be rotated.

More on this in the next post.

Greetings from Austria
Thomas

[zdenek]

If something looks like a pig and squeals like a pig, it doesn't mean it's a real pig...
I certainly won't be persuaded to buy a head made of vibrators, I told you, the farmer, that I have definitely given up on these transducers with similar speakers, said Flo Engineer [Swiss] that they are a failure and it is true, I only wanted to buy the housing from you, but I think that it will also not be useful for my project, that's what my Engineers said

kermit.jpg

[jjwharris]

This forum is called the 'Experimenters' & Innovators' forum' not the 'Do Precisely What Has Been Done Before forum'

[Thelatheofus]

Great work farmersplow, if it's any consolation I've been use PLA printed bearings for my carriages and they're silent enough for me - Igus bearings would be a great step up for me.

Thanks for sharing your developments.

Thank you and I'm glad you like it. And thank you for your openness. Some would say they did everything right from the start. For me (as you can read) it's been a long journey with lots of mistakes and learning processes. I think we all have to go through it, more or less.

This is one of the best threads on this forum by far. I am building a lathe from scratch with way less knwoledge, gear and professionnalism. When I see what you do I tell myself "maybe one day I'll get to this level". So your lathe might not be a VMS80, and it probably never will be, but your passion, dedication and craftsmanship are a huge inspiration.
I wish you to reach the goals you set for yourself, and you seem to be on a great path so far !

[farmersplow]

This forum is called the 'Experimenters' & Innovators' forum' not the 'Do Precisely What Has Been Done Before forum'

THX, I see it in the same way

[farmersplow]

This is one of the best threads on this forum by far. I am building a lathe from scratch with way less knwoledge, gear and professionnalism. When I see what you do I tell myself "maybe one day I'll get to this level". So your lathe might not be a VMS80, and it probably never will be, but your passion, dedication and craftsmanship are a huge inspiration.
I wish you to reach the goals you set for yourself, and you seem to be on a great path so far !

Thank you very much! If people like you are motivated and inspired to get to grips with the subject of cutting records, then I have achieved my goal with this article. Professionalism is not the most important thing. The joy of researching and doing is the most important thing. Dealing positively with mistakes and failures ultimately leads to success. If you don't make mistakes, you haven't learnt anything.
Thomas